MPAA shows that Worldwide SPE Acquisitions, Inc. submittted "Defendor" for getting rating.(SPE Acquisitions, Inc = Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group) On the other hand, MPAA showed that Samuel Goldywn Films submitted "Blood: The Last Vampire" for getting rating before Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group annnounce that they(Sony) bought the US rights of "Blood: The Last Vampire".
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i75b60f5d014806b020d9b9b02e9a5410
If "Defendor" couldn't get accepted by any Sony distribution label (several months after it was acquired by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group)..... Maybe it means that Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group would release "Defendor" theatrically through other third party distributors like Samuel Goldywn Films or Apparition (if Sony still want to release "Defendor" theatrically).
And we all know what happen thearically to the Sony lay-offs like "Southland Tales", "Black Dynamite" and "Blood: The Last Vampire". (The successes of “The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” and "Fireproof" are the exceptions, not the norm for those Sony lay-offs )